Who cares if americans care? IT is by far the largest and most popular sport on the planet.

Funny how the very things that Adidas thinks are the great advances are the things that the goalkeepeers are complaining about. England's keeper said "It's as if the new ball has a plastic casing around it." Adidas says "Complete underglass print significantly decreases wear of colors and design" All depends which side of the shot you're on I suppose...!

for americans to care about it they would have to dumb it down a bit and make it easyer to understand. I'm american and I enjoy soccer.

I think the last sentence pretty well sums it all up. Thanks for the honesy, Nic. It certainly is pretty tho.

What's so lame about team spirit? Does someone prefer to be unilateral?

what sport redesigns their ball right before their major tournament? a crappy one

If they shaped the ball into an oval, maybe the americans would care. Unless you play the sport you do not care about it. Except Sand volley ball. everyone likes that sport.

Far more smoother. Far more smoother? Are you kidding me?!

Dumb it down for Americans to care about it? Take baseball for example. One of America's most popular sports. Have you ever tried to explain the infield fly rule to someone who has never seen the sport before?

Here, Here! Over a billion people and maybe more will be watching it. The sport may be marganilized by one country in the world; aka the U.S, but speaking from a U.S perspective, it only goes to show how out of touch we are with the rest of the world when we can't even relate to a world sport. I think that the U.S team deserve all the support they can get...I mean look at the great performance they had in the last world cup. Showing that our interests lay at being on top at everything we do and having no interest when we're not number one at something is at the crux of why we don't support world cup soccer to begin with. I don't see soccer ever becoming a dominant fixture in the U.S, but if there's a sport that actually brings all nations together, even if its only for one month every 4 years, I'll support it in any way possible especially if it means us trying to be a part of the global community instead of constantly alienating ourselves from it politically.

hey callanish, the US supports soccer by not paying attention to it. soccer is the one thing the rest of the world uses to lord over the US. just think how it would be if we won that every 4 years too, like we do at pretty much everything else. yeah, they'd really love us then.

Americans don't care about football (why do you strange people keep calling it soccer?) because they are just afraid to lose. That's why they call their national sporting competitions world championships. Having said that I must admit that the US national football team are doing quite a good job given the circumstances( a country that largely seems to be hoping that they fail instead of win). But all that doesn't matter as we (Holland) will take home that ugly cup/statue thingy anyways.

Now all FIFA and Adidas have to do is design the sport so Americans actually care about it. How about we design Americans so they're more a part of the rest of the world?

"hey callanish, the US supports soccer by not paying attention to it. soccer is the one thing the rest of the world uses to lord over the US. just think how it would be if we won that every 4 years too, like we do at pretty much everything else. yeah, they'd really love us then. by drewheyman on 06/09/06 05:56 PM " Man you are dumb, you and your megalomaniac country.

"Man you are dumb, you and your megalomaniac country." And that was somehow supposed to make you look smart? He probably said that shit so we could all laugh at the uptight people who get all riled up over it.

Wait, people who watch televised sports judge other's intelligence based on which sport they like? That's pretty funny.

If the world cared for America's way of thinking we would be using that weird obsolete measurement system you got: " I'm about 6 real big human feet tall!" instead of 2.0 meters. You guys should get more funny measurements for the rest of the world to laugh about in parties. And why don't you change the name of your football so something more related like "armball" since there is football already and its played with your feet, unlike the one you play where you carry the ball with your hands, which is very different.

Getting back to the topic of actualy Futball. This advance might actually help americans. If there is more scoring, effectively that american view of futball games being 1-0 snooze fests might. Take that 4-2 Germany win in the opener. Very exciting and 4-2 games are kinda rare. Increased scoring helped the NHL during it's rebirth, maybe it will do the same for the world's game. Oh and drewheyman, that has to be one of the most ignorant things I've ever read. Respect is earned on the pitch. The USA has been deeply respected due to the sheer growth it has seen in america the last few years, and with the success of the MLS, in terms of sport, we are starting to boom. It isn't leading to more US hate (which is done from politics). It is leading to respect. All those mothers in there big honk'en SUV's taking their kids to Soccer practice has to pay off sooner or later after all ;)

god you people are humourless. that joke was knock-knock level in its obviousness. but seriously, why does soccer need US recognition and respect? we don't spend our time caring if NFL europe isn't catching on. we send our scrubs over there to develop. and again, we have the olympics every 4 years. doesn't that build worldly respect? or is it only built on your terms?

"just think how it would be if we won that every 4 years too, like we do at pretty much everything else. yeah, they'd really love us then." lol, you say that like the rest of the world loves the USA already... I think the reason people think the USA should 'recognise' the worlds biggest sport, is because the USA definately expects the rest of the world to 'recognise' it. The US government traipses around, like the world police or something, but when it comes to the cultural crunch - they couldn't give a slice of sh*t. The USA seems to want to rule the world, not be part of it... When I read this post title, I thought it would signify that FIFA would be putting some sort of sensor into the ball to make the jobs of linesmen and ref's that much easier, that would have been advanced - and sensible too. And to the suggestion that FIFA (or, 'the sport') has been stupid in changing the design of the ball - perhaps footballers are expected to be talented enough to adapt? Anyway, its Adidas that have changed the design of their ball, not FIFA which have introduced new global restrictions on football design. Americans are right though, football can be boring as hell at times. Anyone catch the England v Paraguay snooze fest today? Need I even ask..? haha

PS. "...like we do at pretty much everything else." Erm, what exactly? It's not like the USA takes part in many sports that aren't just nationally local to itself. The USA always wins the Superbowl.. it's impossible for it not too. (Perhaps thats why US sports are so nationalised? Whoever wings - the USA comes out tops!!)

the comment about the ball was not a joke. you change the ball at the beginning of the season, not right before the championship. and if adidas balls are the only one they play with, and in the matches i watched it was, then fifa & addidas are really the same. it's not the fact that they changed the ball -- it's the timing. and the england/paraguay was not on here that i know of, unless it was on late. but the t&t tie of sweden was a bit dull. lots of offensive miscues by the swedes against a back up goalie. i expected more from them.

I CARE! (US)